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Hip Hop Star Raps for Obama’s Victory

By Mike Nizza June 6, 2008 12:27 pmJune 6, 2008 12:27 pm

Nas, rapping to the political tune of the moment. (Photo: Scott Gries/Getty Images)

As if the celebrations weren’t enough, Senator Barack Obama’s political triumph this week has been punctuated by a two giants of hip-hop music. “Black President,” a track that surfaced on Thursday [listen here], features Nas singing along with Tupac Shakur, whose rhymes were turned into a chorus:

And although it seems heaven sent
We ain’t ready, to see a black President

Ten years after Mr. Shakur’s line emerged in “Changes,” a 1998 hit released after his death, Nas turns it into another reason to believe that there’s a “new, improved J.F.K. on the way” in 2009. Although the overall thrust of the song doesn’t mesh well with Mr. Obama’s postracial campaign, Nas falls into line splendidly by the middle of the song:

On the positive side, I think Obama provides hope
And challenges minds of all races and colors to erase the hate
And try to love one another, so many political snakes

Obama certainly did that with his ability to withstand Hillary’s challenge + Operation Chaos + Stop Obama Express and the myriad other attacks against his candidacy.

I would like to think of myself as a “postracial” kinda dude (whatever that means!!) but the challenge for Obama and his supporters, myself included, is patience and realism. It is not going to be easy for Obama to sustain the level of enthusiasm that his candidacy has inspired. On the other hand, if we all stay engaged and focused on his core mission and message..

I’m glad the lyrics are positive. Of course thats to be expected from Nas, one of the top five Hip Hop artists of all time in my book. I hope America surprises me too. Actually Obama doesn’t have to win to do that. I want him to but if he comes really close I’ll still be pleased. Someones got to win and someones got to lose and I doubt many Republicans would vote for any democrat. Just the fact that he can get a lot of people to vote for him would be a sign of great progress.

This is certainly one for the books. Even my 15 year old son has received his awakening. To help softn the blow of what I thought was inevitable failure, I whispered, ” he is going to be assasinated.” I refused to let my thoughts go where I know historically this country wouldn ot allow. A black president?
I said to my self ” hey its a two-fer. I am a woman who is black so , Hillary – Barack. I said this out loud so that it would hurt less.
But look at what we have done we have dared to hope.

The only thing that is going to stop a black man or any other “minority” from reaching the White House is good old-fashioned ignorance. I mean, you are tell me that Geogre Bush was truly right for this job!!! It is time for this country to grow up some more. Stop think of everyone as a different race and nationality. Do anyone realize that we are the only nation that has hypthenated cizitens eg. Italian-American, Mexican-American, Irish-American, etc. Everyone may have a different story and path on how our ancestors got in this great nation. We all paid their dues in this country and it is time to think of ourselves as Americans, plain simple. Then maybe, just maybe we could finally listen to someone before we cast judge on them because of their racial background. That person might actually have something usefuls and wise to say to you.

OK, I’m going to try something a little different — a post in installments, like Dickens.

So, I was riding the subway today, not far from the site where 3000 people lost their lives in the World Trade Center disaster [moderator: this winds back to the point of this thread eventually, I promise!]. I got to thinking about Rev. Wright, trying to understand how he could have seen the pictures, read the stories of little school children at the scene looking up at the poor, desperate people, on fire, jumping from unimaginable heights to a sure death, and telling their teacher, “Look! The birds are on fire” — how could anyone have seen and read these stories, and then delivered that hate-filled sermon about chickens coming home to roost? And how could a church filled with several thousand congregants who consider themselves Christians stand up and cheer? I couldn’t begin to understand it, and I consider myself a broad-minded, understanding sort of person.
[to be continued]

Which is when it finally occurred to me – duh — the sermon comes from a religious and cultural context I simply don’t share, anymore than I share the cultural context of African countries where little girls are subjected to cliterectomies as a coming-of-age ritual. I may find the beliefs and practices appalling and abhorent, but that doesn’t make everyone who embraces those customs hateful or inherently evil or even “wrong” (well, don’t get me started about cliterectomies). That may not sound like a very earth-shattering realization for some, but it suddenly made sense to me why we can’t condemn Sen. Obama for having chosen to attend Trinity Church all those years.
[to be continued]

But that doesn’t mean we can’t take the measure of a man, or woman, in part by the company they keep, the churches they choose to attend, their “cultural context.” That’s where this thread comes in. I saw the headline about rap artists writing songs for Obama, and I thought, “Ug! I can’t stand rap — the sexist lyrics, the violence,” and I started to have negative thoughts about Sen. Obama, because he apparently likes rap, and/or rap artists like him. But with my new-found sense of cultural sensitivity, I shrugged and thought, “OK. Other people are into it. It’s just not my thing. It doesn’t make him a bad man.”
[to be continued]

But here’s the question I’d like to ask Obama supporters: Is it inherently “racist” for me to be influenced to some degree by my own familiarity and level of comfort with a candidate’s “cultural context”? Isn’t it a natural and human response to be drawn to a candidate who more closely reflects one’s own “cultural context,” ways of seeing the world, and general values? I’m excited, as a white woman in her 50’s, at the prospect of electing another white woman of my generation (whom I also regard as very able and highly qualified), and it matters to me that Rev. Wright would not be her pastor. It matters a great deal. Why shouldn’t it matter? Of course it matters. It may not matter to you, but that’s not the point.

People who are genuinely mystified why Hillary supporters should take umbrage when Carl Bernstein seems to find it relevant to discuss her “thick ankles;” or when Tucker Carlson tells us that he reflexly crosses his legs when she comes in the room; or when Sen. Obama himself calls an adult woman journalist “sweetie;” or when he “gallantly” pulls Hillary’s chair out during a Presidential debate; or when he and his campaign and many of his 18 million supporters insist on addressing her implicitly or explicitly as “Billary” or “The Clintons” (“Sometimes I just don’t know who I’m running against”) — as if Hillary doesn’t have a mind of her own, not to mention a long and distinguished resume in her own right — if you can’t understand our anger, maybe you just don’t share our cultural context. It doesn’t make our reactions “wrong” or “deluded” or “laughable” or “pathetic” – we just have a different perspective on things. If you ask us to understand the world from Rev. Wright’s perspective, and not to condemn Sen. Obama for espousing a different cultural tradition, I’ll try, but it doesn’t mean I have to vote for the guy. Don’t condemn me if I choose to support a candidate who general view of things – as well as her positions on the issues – more closely reflects my personal experience, perspective on the world, and general values. It’s like condemning a person for voting Republican. The Democratic platform is just not their thing. If you can’t understand, acknowledge, and understand that, I don’t see how you can have any hope of bridging divides, reaching across the aisle, building consensus between people who disagree, and working in a truly bipartisan way towards “unity” and “change.” The change you want to see in the world and in our government begins with you.

this fits with the celebrity-like status that props up the thin veneer of content and authority the obama campaign has run with so far…its more like american idol than electing someone who will run a nation state.

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